An opening month bookended by a local atrocity and on-ice adversity has challenged the Vegas Golden Knights in ways as unexpected as their 8-3 start to their inaugural NHL season.

No one could have anticipated that in the franchise's eleventh game, Tuesday night's 6-4 loss to the Rangers, the Golden Knights would be forced to start its fourth-string goalie in rookie Maxime Legace.

But even more than the injury bug biting Vegas between the pipes, it was the shock of the Oct. 1 shooting on the strip -- the deadliest in U.S. history -- that has united the city's first major professional sports team.

"It brought the team together in a way that we could kind of forget ourselves," winger Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said after the defeat at Madison Square Garden. "It's the best thing that can happen to a new franchise when all the players don't think individually, and instead think about something that's much bigger. The last thing we thought about was to score a goal. Nobody's thinking of that part of the game."

After winning their first two games on the road, the Golden Knights welcomed first responders onto their home ice during an emotional pregame ceremony in which nurses, police officers, firefighters and doctors who aided victims were mentioned by name.

The names of the 58 killed were also shown on the ice at T-Mobile Arena, and defenseman Deryk Engelland, a longtime Vegas resident, followed up a powerful speech to the crowd with a first-period goal. The result on Oct. 10 was a 5-2 win over Arizona.

"The opening ceremony was a big night for us," said head coach Gerard Gallant before Tuesday's loss. "The guys felt they owed it to the city to work hard and compete hard. The hockey results were good, but it wasn't about hockey at that time."

The Golden Knights welcomed first responders on the ice during a 15-minute ceremony at their home opener.

(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The team has also strengthened its ties to the Vegas community by visiting local police headquarters and buying tickets for surviving victims and first responders.

"Early on playing in training camp we were working hard, and then the tragedy that happened that night was real tough on us and it was real tough on our players," Gallant said. "But our organization went out and they really supported the city real well."

Vegas' fledgling fan base has had plenty more to cheer about as the focus has turned to the ice. The Golden Knights went 6-1 over their early seven-game homestand, becoming the fastest team to reach eight wins in its opening season since the league expanded from six teams in 1967-68.

And they've gone through a small army of goalies to get to where they are now -- second in the Pacific Division to the Los Angeles Kings with 16 points.

Marc Andre-Fleury, the team's top netminder taken in this summer's expansion draft from the Stanley Cup champion Penguins, suffered a concussion in the fourth game of the season. Rookie backup Malcolm Subban went down with a lower-body injury a week later. And an injury to third-stringer Oscar Dansk on the road Monday led Vegas to turn to the 24-year-old Legace.

After making his NHL debut in relief of Dansk during Vegas' loss to the Islanders, Legace allowed five goals on 36 Rangers shots, not including a late-game empty-netter.

The Golden Knights will look for their first win on its six-game road trip Thursday in Boston.

(Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports)

But to Bellemare, the fault on Tuesday didn't lie between the pipes.

"You trust whichever goalie is gonna be behind you," Bellemare said. "We've been lucky enough to find a way to win games. Now (Legace) is in and he's played unbelievable. Tonight he has a good game -- the defeat is not on him. It's us that found a way somehow to lose the game."

The Golden Knights will look for their first win on its six-game road trip Thursday in Boston.

But with the hand Vegas was dealt in October, Gallant can't help but welcome his team's early success.

"I don't think anybody thought we'd be 8-2 after the first 10 games," he said. "Especially with all the things that happened with our goaltending situation."